Transcripts For CSPAN3 Crispus Attucks In American Memory 20240713

American history interviews, museums,films, exploring our nations passed every weekend on cspan3. This year marks the 250th anniversary of the boston massacre. Next, from the American Society, historian talks about his book, first martyr of liberty. Kachunor tissue and sometimes these were celebrated in other times forgotten or vilified by americans. Good evening, everyone. Im the director of outreach here. To thiso welcome you talk. You can find out more about upse programs by picking more at the front desk. You can also fill at the information on your evaluation sheet sheet. You can also pick one up at the front desk. We are a National Research library Whose Mission is to preserve and share the printed of the United States, portions of canada, before the 21st century. We do anything we collect anything and everything in these parameters. We use these collections as the basis for all of these programs. Together to it is death participate in a workshop, portfolio performances, and other things. Tonights lecture is part of a program we are operating it is beyond midnight, paul revere. It is an two parts. The exhibition will conclude its tour in arkansas. Display from july 4 to october 20 6, 2020. I highly encourage you to see it if you can. Lauren, the chief curator, and director of fellowship here. The exhibition and its programming offer perspective on the legendary Midnight Rider by show kidding paul showcasing par revealed paul reveres Midnight Rider. As a canon maker and producer of copper sheets. We would like to thank the sponsor. The most complete collection, the most famous of these, is the bloody massacre, rendering of events that came to be known as the boston massacre, which marked its 250th anniversary last week. Tonights speaker will tell us about the shifting role addicts have played attucks has played. In the story of the nation. Mitch kachun is professor of history at western michigan university. Specializing in africanAmerican History, collective memory, and historical writing. He has received awards and fellowships from the National Endowment for the humanities, the institute for the study of United States history of the United States department of education, among others. Firstlications include martyr of liberty Crispus Attucks in american memory. And the slave bride, every discovered africanamerican named an outstanding academic for 2007. Has published numerous articles and book chapters such as 19thcentury black nationalism, and Michelle Obamas treatment in american media, among others. Please join me in welcoming mitch kachun. [applause] thank you. N good evening, everyone. I want to thank you all for coming out tonight. This is an interesting time were living in. You thissed to talk to evening about my book, first martyr of liberty Crispus Attucks in american memory. I want to thank all of the staff and Board Members here. I am truly honored to have been invited to make this presentation. One of the premier cultural and historical institutions in the nation. Is worth noting that over the next several years, we will all hear a lot about various events commemorating the American Revolution, perhaps especially in massachusetts where many of those events took place. The boston massacre is considered by many to be one of the early events link at the beginning of true revolutionary thinking. I have been participating in some of the regions around boston. I put in a plug for one of the exhibits i saw at a steakhouse i was consulted for, which deals men dicts in american memory. Please check it out. It will be there for a year. Is that better . Sorry about that. At the 250th anniversary where does the american experiment brought us . We will hear a lot of different like the tea party, paul reveres ride, the writing of the declaration, and the intent of the founders, and so on. Part of what intrigued me as a historian was the way in which different versions of our shared totory are constructed disparate political, cultural, or ideological agendas. Everyone has their own take on events asked if her narratives resonate with different times. We all have our favorite stories. Something that tells members of theynation and others who are as people. Stories americans like to tell themselves about their nation is one of freedom loving people seeking religious liberty. They grew and extended their request for freedom by throwing off the chains of british rule based on the ideals of individualism, equality, and upward mobility. Efforts. Sed on their is a unique nation , which grew at attracting immigrants across the globe. The american nation has become a the where all who share ideals and abide by the rules of the nation are welcome to share in the dream. There is some truth to the story but it leaves a lot out. It has been especially important for africanamericans to create their own story because mainstream american story has always ignored them and excluded them. Understanding how ive can americans have developed their own story of who they are and where they fit in the larger american story, it is one of the central questions that hit me. The main things i have tried to understand over the course of my career, it is one of the main themes and liberty. Of society arrived at some shared understanding. How stories of the past constructed and who does this the constructing . Why do certain stories gain widespread credibility and familiarity and why do other stories get overlooked or forgotten. Honoredcertain stories as heroes and others are ignored completely . Waysed to examine the many madeattucks and a part of or excluded from americas understanding of the story of the american resolution revolution and the nation. I want to start by reading from the books opening pages. I will introduce respa slattox and the questions i explore. Crispus attucks and the questions i explore. Obamaection of barack began march 5, 1770 at the boston massacre with the death of Crispus Attucks. This provocative opening line from the 2009 documentary we the people is never fully explained. Viewers are left to wonder how the death of a mixed race person clashes. Led to the election of the nations first africanamerican president over two centuries later. While the connections between tenuous atttucks are best, each man has occupied that intellectual and emotional juncture at which americans attempt to understand how race has affected our understanding of what it means to be a patriot, citizen and american. These questions challenge us. First recognize the continuous black presence in america and American History from the 18th 21st. Y to the and then to consider how americans think about africanamericans place and to ponder the processor was National Heroes and myths are constructed. The book examines how Crispus Attucks has been member and been remembered and forgotten. What do we really know about him and his role in the boston massacre . There is little certainty about his life story. Most widely accepted interpretation suggests he was natick,und 1723 year massachusetts, a praying town of christianized indians. Ancestry. Mixed he was likely a slave owned until he liberated himself around 1750. He worked as a slate a sailor around the docks until his role in the events of march 5, 1770. Most modern historians see the socalled boston massacre as a noteworthy event in the colonys growing disaffection with the British Empire. Attucks was part of the unruly mob, with a small detachment of british soldiers. Wered four white colonists killed after threatening the soldiers with rocks, i said clubs. Four of the victims ice, and clubs. Four of the victims were buried in the granary burying grounds. Patrick carr was placed in the grave with the others. Months after that the soldiers were tried for murder. All were acquitted in only two of them acquitted of manslaughter, lightly punished and sent home. Thousands of american colonists and hundreds of bostonians were direct participants in mob actions between the 1760s and the 1775 start of the revolution. Crispus attucks was one of those and he was no more important or significant that arrest. They all lead a role in moving disgruntled colonists toward a new struggle for independence. It is understandable the first person to be killed by british soldiers might hold a memorable place. But the fact that he was Crispus Attucks is happenstance. Had it been another part or some other confrontation, with that person be would that personally remembered . Person be remembered . It makes sense to consider these questions because his incorporation into the story of the revolution was not a foregone conclusion. It was a Conscious Campaign to construct an american hero, the first martyr of liberty. Just a bit from chapter one. 1782, when one person asked a question in his letters from an american farmer, what is the american, this new man, he was not thinking about Crispus Attucks or other people of color. He was trying to explain the nature of america and the american character to a european audience to this land of distant colonials, the first revolutionary nation making. The new man he saw coming into european orther a the descendent of a european. He was white. During the era of the American Revolution, 20 , one in every five people was of african birth or descent. Multiethnic people like christmas attucks work Crispus Attucks were a part of 18thcentury america and embodied what was new and distinctive in the revolutionary nation. Life experiences allowed him to see the best and worst of 18thcentury america. The economic and social vitality of growing colonies, the oppression of slavery, mixed peoples and linkages languages, opportunities of life at sea, fluidity of identity. In the language of liberty and National Rights that came to id. And the language of liberty and National Rights that came to identify the nation. In looking at the stories that have grown around crispus years, i have50 looked into scholarly histories, juvenile literature, public monuments, works of drama in literature, visual arts, tv, movies, the internet and so on. Because there is so little clear evidence about who he was, people have tended to make things up. Details about his family, education, religion, politics and patriotism, things of which we have no evidence. So there are a lot of distorted stories about attucks floating around people have constructed to suit their own purposes. The meanings of him started almost immediately. The future United States president john adams, in his role as defense attorney for the british soldiers, showed him as a threat to the social order who led the riotous mob. Attucks appears to have undertaken to be the hero of the night and to lead the army with banners and move them up to king street with clubs. He said dont be afraid of them. They dont fire. Knock them over. He tried to knock their brains out. To have this reinforcement under the command of a mulatto fellow whose looks were able to terrify any person, what had the soldiers not to fear . He took a buyer that a bayonet and knocked the man down. The dreadful carnage of that night is chiefly to be ascribed to him. Adams did his best characterize the entire mob as a rebel, as it didnt rabble, as it didnt represent the peace of boston. I did to fight attucks, a racially mixed outsider, as the identifying attucks, a racially mixed outsider, as the ringleader. To servees the memory political agendas by portraying the victims as respectable, innocent citizens struck down by a tyrannical military power. This one is the best known piece in this, showing respectable and white colonists being mowed down by the abusive military. There are annual march 5 commemoration is from 17 it 1771 to 1783. Pay little attention to individuals. No mention of attucks, the racial makeup of the martyrs. They were referred to as our brethren, slaughtered innocents, and fellow citizens. The implication was they were white. 1771 and 1850, the boston massacre remained a part of the nations collective memory. Some characterized it as a key event in forging colonial unity while others preferred to distance the revolution from what they considered a disorderly riot. Attucks role in racial identity remained largely ignored even among africanamericans. Only some scattered references appeared in the 19th century, casting him not as a hero or a patriot but a referee in a ruffian. Samuel goodrich was of the most popular and prolific historians in the middle 19th century. In his first book of history for children and youth, published between 1831 and 1859, he described the boston mob led by a giant of a naked negro named attucks really abused for them attucks. They abused them and made them fire. At the troops not fired, the irritated and unreasonable populace would have torn the soldiers to pieces. It appears from this text and others that identify attucks racially brought him to the first time to the attention of africanamerican abolitionists. Once they learned about him, they made him into a usable symbol. Coloredcooper nells patriots of the revolution showed attucks as the first martyr of the American Revolution who was out and with the people and never regarded as otherwise. Foras the most responsible Crispus Attucks bursting onto the american scene in the 1860s as the example of american patriotism and citizenship. Black activists ignored his native american ancestry and preferred presented him as a black man, the first to sacrifice his life on the altar of American Freedom. His identification with the nations founding and mythic image was a cripple historic careful historical reconstruction and studded intended to bolster morel. Morale. Virtually unknown to black activists before the 1840s, by the 1850s he had become one of the most widely recognized symbols of the black patriotism and citizenship. His prominence among black and white abolitionists grew as black men donned blue uniforms and risk their lives for the union and to dismantle slavery. In the 18th century and received attention through the reconstruction era. The direction of the attucks the errection of the attucks monument was the most publicly visible on her he received up to he received upr to that point. It was erected with black and white support but drew criticism from conservatives. The leader of the Boston Historical Society declared the proposed monument was a waste of the publics money and these men were prior to her were rioters, not patriots. Attucks was a rowdy person, killed while engaged in defiance of the law. One longtime bostonian referred to him as i have indian half in halfup a half indian, who should have been strangled the day he was born. There was a new and troubling reality. This is from chapter four which is titled Crispus Attucks meets jim crow. On january africanamerican revenue inspector with the birth of his fourth child. We cannot hear the conversations the family may have had about naming the child. But when the boy came into the world, he became known as Crispus Attucks palmer. He still lived in Norfolk County at 21 with his mother and his siblings. 10 years later he was on his own and they had 10 they have three young daughters. He had a son named Crispus Attucks palmer junior. Registered later, he for the draft. Then he was a widower and lived with his children to norfolk city where he owned his home free and clear and worked as a clerk at the post office. Later he was married again. He and his second wife provided for their family. 3500. E was worth they purchased a radio and placed a high priority on education. Crispus have his post Office Position and rose and his oldest daughter were schoolteachers. The 17yearold crispus junior was soon off on his own. He completed four years of college. Impressive achievement. He was working as a film editor until may 1942 when he enlisted in the army to help defend the country. Here the rank of technician fifth grade and gave his he earned the rank of technician fifth grade and give his life. He can we can only speculate whether he carried on tributes to the first martyr of the revolution. Personifies a culture of racial uplift among middleclass africanamericans during the late 20th century. They create a high value on family, education and economic advancement. William palmer was likely a slave. In 1870 he was a domestic servant. While he could read and write, his wife could not. Literateny was annie was literate and he was a county revenue inspector. Um black the post bell middle class, removed from the subservience of slavery and able to parent households in which education was a priority. They became homeowners and had the expectation the next generation would exceed their own accompaniments. In naming a black child after a two generations of palmers claimed their place as american citizens and showed the pride of Crispus Attucks status in black communities across the nation. Despite upward mobility, black americans generally saw their stock decline after the civil war. There hopes for equality, acceptance in American Society expended briefly expanded briefly with constitutional amendments. Guaranteeing equal Citizenship Rights, but those hopes and eroded after the 1870s. When Crispus Attucks palmer was born, 2000 black men have held Political Office in southern states, 16 in the congress. At the birth of his namesake in 1912, there were none and very few held elective offices at any level. The right to vote let alone hold office was undermined by convoluted voting rules, racially restrictive laws, intimidation and violence. Literacy climbed, but hopes to pursue education are slim. The passage of jim crow laws restricted africanamericans access to schools, jobs, libraries and other public facilities. After the withdrawal of troops from the south and return to power of the white supremacist former slaveholders, basic constitutional Legal Protections disappeared. After 1882, 49 lynchings were recorded, which climbed steadily over the next several decades with the total over 3000 by 1920. Countless others went unreported. In times like these where White America had all but abandoned its concern for the basic welfare and rights of its black citizens, Crispus Attucks had little chance to enter the pantheon of the nation. While White Americans and mainstream Popular Culture erased him from the story of the revolution, just as black service in the civil war disappeared from the mainstream and conceptions of that conflict. As white northerners and southerners left behind the hatred spawned by civil war and reconciled their differences after 1865, blacks were left to preserve their own contributions in segregated spheres. Legal and effective separation kept prices separate braces separate. The races separate. A few exceptions, but africanamericans had to rely on their own written histories, public commemorations. Preserving a meaningful history of the races role in shaping American Society. From the late 19th century into world war ii, Mainstream Society paid little attention to the role Crispus Attucks and others laid in american his played in American History and culture. Storywas erasure from the and textbooks. Textbooks are official documents that tell children this is what you need to know. This is the true story of your nation. Attucks appeared sometimes as a hero and a villain in many history schoolbooks prior to the civil war, but i have not been able to find a reference to him in American History textbooks published between the 1880s and 1950s. Africanamericans ramped up their own efforts to promote black history and critique blackbaud mission as well as the critique black omission. Historical writers in the 1800s countered this omission with the noble and heroic Crispus Attucks. One problem with those attempts to tell his story was that practically nothing was known or can be known about the man. In many cases the writers made stuff up about attucks to suit their purposes. Many presentations held close to the record, but between the 1880s and 1930s, some of the stories had grown preposterous. 19th century writers like George Washington williams and William J Simmons invented an attucks who was goodlooking, literate, well read in political philosophy, a man who was a prominent number of the boston sons of liberty, good friend of paul revere and sam attucks, whose actions became a rallying cry. He was clearheaded and loyal hearted, a man who saw himself as an american citizen and was determined to revenge oppression in every form. There is no connection with any historical evidence. I,er world war africanamericans intensified their attention to him and other race heroes as they made other efforts to incorporate africanamerican achievements into the narrative. Authors were writing for Young Readers in the 1920s, even presented the highly unlikely image of attucks giving speeches to the admiring boston public and exchanging ideas with the people around him. Crispus attucks was also honored by africanamericans who named Community Institutions after him including schools, public parks, housing projects, hotels, movie theaters, American Legion posts and more including at times the naming of children. His name was invoked more and more frequently by public spokespersons and organizations calling attention to the disregard for black it is a ship rights during the black Citizenship Rights during the jim crow era. The sign says the first blood for american independence was shed by a negro, Crispus Attucks. Promoting him as a National Hero was her doubled as was redoubled. Once again presented opportunities to sharpen activists arguments for black inclusion and full Citizenship Rights. There was broader attention given to attucks from the American Government and White Americans more generally, expanding why we require more time than we have tonight. You will have to read the book to find out. The war had a lot to do with it. It should be no surprise things began to change as the postwar Civil Rights Movement focused attention on africanamericans. In the 1960s, School Districts outside the south made efforts to rectify the neglect of the black past. By 1963 Community Activists in detroit, los angeles, chicago and other cities were successfully moving School Systems towards including africanAmerican History into the curriculum. By mid decade attucks again to history textbooks, albeit as a token. One change can be seen in a Popular High School text by john kraut. The adventure of the american people. Editions cover of the boston massacre occurs to refers to a mob of ruffians and using the emory of the event to keep the flames of discontent the memory of the event to keep the flames of discontent high. There we also learn one of the victims was Crispus Attucks, a runaway slave who was the leader of the mob. The others point to the story of the irony of a black who is less than free becoming a martyr to the cause of freedom. 1980s and 1990s it was difficult to find a textbook that did not at least mention attucks. Many featured him as a hero and patriot. Some text gave into repeating fabricated Biographical Data tells biographical details. He is still widely represented and misrepresented today as well as other things like documentaries and public addresses and so on. Attucks is also getting attention in juvenile literature, biographies and comic book histories, graphic novel histories. The authors pay little attention to historical accuracy, continuing the pattern of making up stories, family members and attitudes which bears little resemblance to the historical record. This book is based on some solid historical research, but it in polish is quite a bit. Embellishes quite a bit. Some textbooks can only contain so many pages, the inclusion of blacks, women, native americans and others who were starting to get more attention meant some white men would get less attention. Lewising to historian speer, the average College Freshmen was expected to have been taught some version of the following. Crispus attucks was the first person to die for american independence. She argued Crispus Attucks was seeking wanton amazement amusement by harassing the soldiers and that soldiers will that students will rethink the negros role. And Thomas Bailey complained in his president ial address, that especially with significant white men are bumped out to make room for signature much less significant black men. To bailey, Crispus Attucks and his fellows were guilty of hooliganism. Africanamericans were not always of the same mind about treating him as a hero either. 1860, john s as rock said he would rather honor that turner or john brennan rather than Crispus Attucks fought for the revolution that maintained slavery. And a black power spokesperson argued on the one hand the black man who goes out and throws a brick at a brick a white cop is taking part on the other hand, carmichael also argued attucks exemplified blacks fundamental problem of trying to be american first and black people all the way down the end. That is why we catching hell the way we catching it today. He lifted heroes who thought should be part of the School Complex malcolm x and others, and he thought George Washington carver he took a Seattle High School audience by surprise when he told them the very first man to die for the war of of independence was a black man. There was applause and carmichael went on. He was a fool. Yes three he died for wife yes. He died for white folk country. He should have been fighting instead of dying for white folk. That has been our history as black people, always dying for white folk. They can 76 bicentennial brought greater attention from mainstream to Crispus Attucks and black dissipation in the revolution more broadly as well as increasing opportunities to disseminate interpretations of attucks and other black heroes in the upper everexpanding mass media. Sometimes commercialization was involved. In 1998 the u. S. Mint featured Crispus Attucks altcoin honoring africanamerican veterans of the revolution with this portrait, even though we have little evidence as to what he looked like. Moving into the 21st century we can see lots of ways he is discussed or mentioned in songs, movies, Television Shows and on the internet. In the 1990s three maryland teenagers named their metal band Crispus Attucks after learning about him and identifying with his resistance to oppressive authority. I wearing my Crispus Attucks tshirt. I will refrain from showing it to you. Stevie wonder to others referenced him in some of their works and Tv Documentaries included him. More recently some rightwing political organizations have chosen attucks to represent their causes. In 2006 black los angeles activists founded the Crispus Attucks brigade of the socalled minuteman movement. The brigade embraced the first black to die in defense of the american nation as inspiration for 21st century africanamericans to take their rightful and doable role to stop illegal immigration. Groupr africanamerican aligning itself devoted to the ideals of the nations founders, the Crispus Attucks tea party in texas in 2011. The group inspired aspire to teach the history of blacks in america and to help blacks gain control of their lives and the destiny of their children. Attucks became even more a part of school textbooks, black History Month presentations, juvenile biographies and academic scholarships even though misinformation abounds. By the year 2000 he had become widely expected a part of the nations story but mainly as a presence. A token he was merely the black guy from the revolution. Crispus attucks has always been a malleable figure because there is little documentary evidence about his life. He is a blank slate upon which different people at different times have inscribed a wide variety of meanings from patriotic hero in first order of liberty to an unsavory referee ruffian, to uncle tom who sold out his race to fight against whites and slavers to an irrelevant nobody worth referring remembering at all. His connection with black men and violence in the public streets hasnt gone unnoticed. Debate overng a whether to name a bridge for attucks in his probable hometown of framingham, historian associate with him associated him with an all too common image. Attucks is said to have gone out into the street waving a stick about the thickness of a mans american crowd of seleka thug to me. On attucks day at a crowd of british soldiers. Sounds like a thug to me. From Crispus Attucks to Michael Brown 245 years later, someone wrote two things remain clear. We never know what sparks a revolution. And black lives matter. His place is decidedly mixed. He clearly has had an impact on the sizable number of individuals and organizations but remains unknown or forgotten by the vast majority of americans. This raises questions about why certain figures stick so easily in americans conceptions of the story while others fail to make a lasting impact. Part of the answer is straightforward. For generations prior to the 1960s, books excluded black heroes, compliments and participation in the construction of the american nation. Then, there has been a lot to be desired. Rarely are African Americans presented as serious contributors to the making of the nation. For the most part they are shunted aside. What i am trying to do in the book is examined the different ways over the examine the different ways he has either been made part of or excluded from americas understanding of the story of the revolution and the nation. I will mention who gets included , who isets ignored honored with monuments, who belongs in this country and this countrys story and who is not . Who can claim to be a citizen, patriot, hero and american . Since the last president ial election, americans are discussing these sorts of issues more publicly and with more passion. As we listen to the White Supremacists who want to take our country back, as we hear fellow citizens wanting to keep certain people based on religion or culture. As we face violent public invitations over what statues and public confrontations over what statues mean, i cant help but think the first martyr of liberty and other words like it are coming out at the right time. We are facing a crisis of historic understanding and national identity. I dont claim to have clear answers on how we should should, proceed, but i argue the broader American Public would be well served to consult the work historians do to have informed and civil public conversations and debates over these questions of what america means and who belongs in this country and in this countrys story. Thank you very much. [applause] i am very happy to take any questions or comments. There is a microphone on the side. We would like you to come up to the microphone to make any points you have or ask any questions. This they sound strange, but when i was in fifth grade, which would have been 1960 sure. In 1960i was in fifth grade. 1960 i was in fifth grade. A teacher who was relatively young at the time, 28, because we thought she was old [laughter] afterwardsiscussion about the conflict between dying for the American Revolution and slavery continuing so long afterwards. Was that a complete abnormally . Mitch i am not sure. In my research because i have covered roughly 250 years of history and had to do some superficial looking, i didnt look at every single textbook during the 20th century. I looked at a wide variety of places like Columbia Teachers College but has a nice election, repositories around the country. But the earliest textbook i came across was in 1963 mentioning attucks. Your experience, i doubt it was unique. It was right around that time. I would be surprised to find any during the 1950s. That is great to hear it was earlier. Great that your teacher took advantage of that to have that conversation in 1960. That was unusual. Thank you. Just fascinating, splendid talk. I will try not to touch this with my actual hand. Struck by the descriptions of how to kiss meeting atticus leading the mob and john adams account and the woman who didnt want the bridge named after hims account. In those accounts, positioning was used toder discredit the mob. But adams is pretty close to the historical moment. And even with his defense attorney rationale for wanting to do that, i guess i would like to hear you talk some about that notion of him as a leader of a largely white mob and whether you think of that as another fiction about him or something that there seems to be some historical evidence for. And if so, what you make of it. Mitch a lot of it comes down to, what do we mean by a leader . That can have a lot of different meanings in different context. In terms of evidence about his participation in that mob, there are a number of eyewitness testimonies that make it clear he was not an innocent bystander. He was noted as coming up for hill, coming up corn holding some clubs and gave one to another person who testified to this and said lets go get them. He was obviously very vocal. Such witnesses had him shouting several witnesses had him shouting at the troops and daring. He was right in front of the british soldiers. One witness and only one witness placed him as an individual who used the club is holding to strike at a british soldier. Some people discredit the witness. But he was not an innocent bystander. Was he a leader . We have been unclear understanding what really happened in the first place, how many people were in the streets. Some people said 40 or 50. Some people said 200 to 300. I have a sense that were at least 100 there were at least 100. And he was not in the background. He was a front. Being very at the front, being very vocal. Maybe he can be described as a leader, but that doesnt really get to his mindset or motivation. In 1770, no one was talking about independence. There is no way a desire to separate from the British Empire and declare america to be a new and distinct of country without a monarch maybe sam adams and a couple of people but nobody was really thinking about that. Inscribing ideals of patriotism onto attucks in an ahystorical way. The folks in boston who are tryingevery state to agitate against the British Empire, their goals still were not really two separate from the empire but really to separate from the empire but to call attention to british abuses to substantiate the american case for remediation i guess. Was he a leader . You can make the argument, but it is hard to get to his motivations, mindset and so on. Hopefully that answers your question. [indiscernible] mitch and again the question was, if he is a leader in the context, can we consider the white people in the crowd to have been following him . Tot is very difficult mention. We dont have evidence after the fact when the massacre martyrs are commemorated in these march 5 commemorations dozens of years later, they are rarely mentioned by name and never is any one of them singled out as someone pulled up as a hero someone to hold up as a hero. His roledont that he was an inspiration to black and white revolutionaries after the fact, there is no evidence to support that. It is hard to get in the mindset of those people, but the depositions that were taken, most of the people didnt know who he was. I dont think people saw themselves as following him. People were coming from different directions. He led 20 or 30 people up the hill. They were following someone else or the sound of church bells or what have you. Comments oro questions perhaps great when you mentioned other black leaders, nat turner and john brown, but you forgot to mention the ladies. You dont mention harriet tubman, Sojourner Truth. Seems there are is a few people, a lot of these people have remained aimless, but it might nameless, but it might have been a nice point. There has recently been a book published about john adams, about his as a lawyer representing the soldiers and winning for them. I have it on order from my library. I thought one should read your book and that book, that they might make an interesting contrast, dichotomy. Would you suggest or say that might be a good idea . Mitch i think everyone should buy my book. [laughter] andthe book on john adams make the comparison. Do you know the author . I dont know, but he has been on several talkshows, articles, there have been reviews in the boston globe and the new york times. Unfortunately i am old and poor, so i had to order it from the library. Mitch libraries are great. Noterms of the women, i did mention them. But certainly what im talking about my focus is on Crispus Attucks. He wasmportant to note not the only person used by africanamerican spokespersons trying to reorient the central narrative of American History. They did use people like tubman and Sojourner Truth and Mary Church Terrell and mary mccloud but soon. Bethune. Cleod i did not mention them tonight. Really dont spend a lot of time talking about either them or frederick douglass, nat turner or others in my book because i am using attucks to represent the movement to reorient and resent her the narrative around recenter the narrative around black attributions. Thank you. Thank you for a great lecture. The question is, do we know much about the other four in the mob who are killed that day . Can we make any inference about Crispus Attucks sort of biography from knowledge of the other four . Mitch i have not looked much into the biography of those other four. Im trying to cover a quarter of a delirium here. Millennium here. Keep the blinders on and certain respects. One thing i do, although we cant reconstruct biography of Crispus Attucks, i tried to use other historians work in the 18th century atlantic world, the world of sailors and seaports to get a sense of what possibilities there were for Crispus Attucks one of the other victims was also a sailor. The others were young people, practices, leather tanners, ivory workers. We can look at the crowd and see there were younger people. Especially among the victims. There were a lot of people certainly of the working classes. There were many townspeople of various social levels, uppercrust folks on the streets. Some of them did get wounded, most of them to my knowledge were not at the forefront. The sort of help feed into adams characterization of making trouble. I dont have a lot of information. That is one of the fascinating things. The reason stories about Crispus Attucks are so prominent is become he became a useful symbol. Black abolitionists worked to advance their own agendas for pursuing Citizenship Rights for themselves and abolition of slavery. The others were not really utilized in that way by other constituencies. Thank you. Mitch thank you. Thank you very much for your presentation. I have a question, two parts that are related. The first would be what if Crispus Attucks was indeed not enslaved, which is one, because you used the term lightly. I dont think it is a given he was indeed a slave. And secondly when nell does his work on colored patriots in 1950s, he includes a good deal of information on the Indigenous People and their participation of the revolutionary struggle. Significance of erasing or obliterating the complexity of who attucks was as an individual in making him only a black man . Nell doesnt use the term black. He used colored, because that includes africanamericans, ethiopians, Indigenous People and all of the other terminology at that time. But does anything change if attucks is indeed a free person of color and not a slave . That is interesting and it is part of the speculation. There was circumstantial evidence. There was a runaway advertisement that was published in 1750. You are probably aware of this, but identifies i forget the exact language, but a runaway slave named crispas, instead of framingham, who was six feet two inches tall, wellbuilt, mulatto. In 1770 we have a newspaper account of this victim of the boston massacre. He was initially identified as Michael Johnson, and there is speculation whether that was an alias or misidentification, but he is eventually said to be crispus, six feet tall, wellbuilt, from framingham among the lotto. That is framingham, mulatto. It is not ironclad, absolutely. Does it change the narrative if he was not an enslaved man . And the other black abolitionists who were using him, i dont believe nell was aware of the runaway at until runaway ad until 1860. He starts writing about attucks. He is aware of attucks by 1839. He is communicating in 1841, writing letters that randall , allips, white abolitionist mentor in some ways. To the 1840s, his first writings in the 1840s and then identify oes not might be wrong but doesnt identify him as someone who might be enslaved. I dont think it would have made a difference because the identity of someone who was a self liberated former slave was not really part of the narrative nell started to construct in the 1840s. Of the advertisement you are referring to but the advertisement you are referring to doesnt use the word slave in the notice. There is an earlier advertisement for fugitive named Michael Johnson. Some of us would argue johnson onason which the duced toher anre johnson. But if the mother is a free, native woman, he would not have been born a slave. Mitch based on the family most people seem to place him in i am not familiar with that Michael Johnson ad. I would like to talk to you. The family most people place him and a woman named nanny peterattucks. She is identified as someone who is an indian descended from a person killed in king philips war. , colonelilliam brown buckminster i am blinking on which one it is blanking on which one it is. But the gentleman died in 1847, she is identified as a negro and as a slave. As part of his estate. She is valued at 80 pounds. Whether she was misidentified, her status as a free or indentured or enslaved person is unclear. She had a value of 80 pounds, seems like she was not free and clear free person. She was bounded to this person in some way. The fact she is identified as a negro may be suggested while she was enslaved and she is of native american ancestry, she is negro by association because of her marriage to a gentleman apparently born in africa. There is so much we dont know about the family details. Not sure if i miss other parts of your that is it. Thank you. I did want to know if you thought the narrative changes, because it is an appeal to a white audience to argue the first person to die for American Freedom was an enslaved african. But flattens out that story. Mitch i dont think that was the argument i was making. Iwas a person of color will have to look more closely nells full language, whether he uses the term black or negro. But that is a broader term. He is clearly seen by black abolitionists as a black man and others who picked that up including Martin Delaney and woody johnson. They identified him as an unequivocally black man. I dont want to monopolize, but when you have people in the 1850s we now call africanamerican using the term colored, and you have nell rewriting entire chapters on Indigenous People who fought in the revolution, im not so sure that they were ignoring the complexity of who this attucks person was. Mitch ok. Im going to stick to my guns on that. But it is worth thinking about. The term colored, there has been an evolution of the way africanamericans are referred to by the Broader Society and the way they return refer to themselves. In the 1880s, whether to identify in the revolutionary era, the term african was widely embraced. You have the free African Society, african methodist of visible church, the African Society in various cities, the term was embraced by free black communities as they were beginning to form in the aftermath. But by the 1830s, the term colored became adopted by many africanamerican people today who today we call africanamericans. A famous newspaper was called the colored american. Someone said we should get rid of qualifying adjectives and refer to ourselves as americans. Those were conversations. The term was free people of color. Those were terms widely used by the communities in the north in identifying themselves with the american context. Im not sure how much time we have comment on what you said, free people of color. In its common usage you here now people of color. It is interesting that transition. Picture,ing at the another sailor. Alluded to it before, i was wondering, if you did not exist, if he was not there, what do still have been the boston massacre . Was he that prominent, we do not know. And i had another question. The newspapers of the time, how they reported it . Basten iyes, think the boston massacre would have laid the role and end up playing even if he were not involved would have played the role it played even if he or another person of color were not involved. For the most part, his racial identity was erased in the coverage after the fact. He was identified in newspaper accounts immediately first as as ael johnson, but always person of mixed racial background, im lotto, a mul atto, so they were not hiding that originally. But the rations at the First Anniversary and beyond that, in 1771, there was no racial identification of any of the victims which would lead themand again the purpose of the patriot cause, it would serve their purposes well for the public to assume that these were all respectable, upstanding, white citizens, members of the boston society, who were struck down by a tear radical power a tyrannical power. I think that is how that would play out. Thank you. [applause] thank you ray much, i appreciate the opportunity. Thank you very much. This is American History tv, on cspan3, where each weekend we feature 48 hours of programs exploring our nations past. Monday night on the communicators. From the annual state of the net conference, internet archive creator rooster tail talks about documenting the internet. Rewster the total election is about. 00 billion urls the total collection. That is part of what we do. We also archive television, abc, nbc, fox. Also international television. 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